Element 101 is a five-piece, girl-fronted band out of New Jersey. "More Than Motion" is Element 101's third album on Tooth and Nail Records.
Element 101 had the reputation of being a punk band, but "More Than Motion" continues to move them away from that stereotype. Musically, over the past couple albums they've essentially evolved from The Halo Friendlies into Morella's Forest.
"More than Motion" has finer moments like its punk chorus on "Stop Breathing" and the sweet guitar intro to "Something Like a Dream." Generally, the best songs tend to be toward the end, such as the pop tracks "A Song" and "This Time Around" and "Under The Ocean," which the guitar player Chris sings on.
Yet a major problem with "More Than Motion" is that the vocal attitude comes off a bit over the top in "Love Has No Sound," "Something Like a Dream" and "What it is to Fall." Lyrically, the phrase "baby" is overused. It's as though Element 101 has become Squad Five-O, Britney Spears or Amy Grant. Also there are a couple songs that fail to grab the listener's attention. And with only ten tracks, that means there's only a few enjoyable ones.
In the end, "More Than Motion" is not bad, but it's not perfection either. It takes guts for a band to go out on a limb and experiment musically, but maybe Element 101 would have been better off sticking with what they know has worked for them in the past.
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Other coverage for this album
Art for the Ears 2002Reviewed by Marco PovervestWith More Than Motion this girl fronted rock band is straying away from its punk pop roots. What you can hear is some real catchy melodic rock music that fits the fragile vocals of Crissie Verhagen much better. Yet she proves for the first time she can sound nasty as well in Something Like A Dream. This is candy coated stuff that'll do great on mainstream radio with poppy rock songs and a real…The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Ken MuellerElement 101 is back with their third release from Tooth & Nail Records, and maybe it's just me, but this band just doesn't seem to have the energy, drive, or muscle that most of the label's bands seem to exude. Or as a friend says, they are "rather sedated" for what they are being marketed as by T&N. What we have here is some rather basic pop-leaning rock laced with some 80s guitar and keyboard…The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Matthew WilliamsLike a Camry firing on three cylinders, the third release from Element 101 made it through ten songs. "Made it" being the key phrase. Far from the edgy, in-your-face style of their other Tooth & Nail labelmates, the New Jersey quintet brings More than Motion, a collection of ten safe tunes, which wander far from the punk label they've garnered in the past. The album opener, "Fade Away", begins…Similar sounding releases
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